This creature comes from Japan and it is what they call river otters. These fall into the category of yokai, which are Japanese demons. Known to be tricksters, they are similar in habits to kitsune (foxes) and tanuki (coming on another day). Of course, these means they are shape-shifters.
So, what does a Kawauso look like? It’s about a meter long and very furry. They have webbed extremities and cute whiskers. A decent-sized tail helps them with balance and swimming. They have a very playful nature and make high-pitched noises that are easily identified. Still, they can be shy at times. In fact, they look like:
Otters
Yeah, the Kawauso normally looks like a regular otter. At best, you may find it drinking sake (rice wine), but that is only in its human form. They only change their shape when they go in search of alcohol or want to pull a prank. Kawauso love their pranks, which are mischievous and rarely dangerous. Their ability to imitate other sounds, including human voices, makes them even better at these tricks. Although, some tales have them only able to repeat what was said to them, which gives them away. A lot of this stems from the otter’s playful nature.
If you’re wondering why a demon would stay in the form of an otter then you’re going in the wrong direction. A Kawauso is an otter that has grown old enough to gain magical powers. Japanese folklore has a lot of creatures that were a normal animal or inanimate object until they reached a certain age. They are also rather stealthy since they can quickly put out a lantern at night. This is done to leave travelers wandering in the dark, which isn’t dangerous, but definitely scary.
The Kawauso has different stories attached to it:
They will turn into a young beggar wearing a straw hat in the hopes of getting alcohol.
They will turn into a beautiful woman to seduce men and then run away laughing after they succeed. Other versions from the Edo period have them killing the men that they seduce.
Another deadly tale talks about a Kawauso in Ishikawa Prefecture that lives in the castle moat. Again, it would transform into a woman, invite men over, and then eat them.
In the area of Hiroshima, they will turn into a monk and wait for travelers. If someone approaches and looks up, they would grow in height until they were a gigantic monk towering over the person.
The Aomori Prefecture talks of people being possessed by Kawauso and losing their stamina. These yokai would also transform into severed heads and get tangled in fishing nets.
One folktale has a monster otter (not sure if it was called a Kawauso) that turns into a human and tries to kidnap girls to make into its wife.
Finally, there are tales that have these creatures involved with sumo. One version is that they trick people into doing sumo with a rock or tree. Another has the Kawauso as a water demon that does sumo with otters.
Contrary to the list, Kawauso are rarely violent. Most of their tales and encounters involve the pranks. Either the young beggar trying to get alcohol or the young woman seducing men only to run away. Putting out lanterns and calling out names at night to confuse people are fairly common too. Lets hope that is the real story just in case one runs into a Kawauso.
This is the last day of the fox posts. Hope everyone enjoyed it so far. Now, we have the Vulpes genus, which are your true foxes. There are 12 members here, which is the main reason why I couldn’t put them into a post with the ‘false fox’ genera. Before we dive into the pictures, I want to say that all 12 species are apparently listed as ‘LEAST CONCERN’ as far as conservation status goes. Honestly, I’m surprised since I really thought at least one would be in danger thanks to human activity. Guess foxes are more adaptable than I realized.
Bengal Fox- Omnivores that eat anything from rodents to termites to crabs.
Blanford’s Fox- Has cat-like, semi-retractable claws.
Cape Fox- Capable of breeding all year round.
Corsac Fox- Adapted to extract water from the food they eat.
Tibetan Sand Fox- Have been seen working with other animals (like bears) to catch prey.
Arctic Fox- Populations are closely linked to the population of lemmings in their territory
Kit Fox- Smallest fox in North America at 5 pounds.
Pale Fox- One of the least studied Canids due to remote habitat, desert camouflage, and nocturnal habits.
Ruppell’s Fox- Compete with fennec fox, pale fox, and red fox for food.
Swift Fox- Were hunted to extinction in Canada, but are there now due to re-introduction programs.
Red Fox- Can hear a mouse squeak from 100 feet away and hear rodents burrowing under dirt or snow.
Fennec Fox- Have largest ears relative to body size of any Canid. Ears used to disperse heat.
I didn’t have a good week in terms of health. Allergies, post nasal drip, and not sleeping well combined to make me limp through Thursday and Friday. That’s why I’m writing this Friday night because I don’t know if I’m sleeping through all of Saturday or not. Probably shouldn’t, but we’ll see what happens.
Glancing at my goals for this week, my simplicity made this a successful time. I only wrote one December blog post and biked once because I did a lot more Pokemon Go outings than expected. That might be why I felt so tired. Well, the breaking of my oral appliance before I got the CPAP yesterday didn’t help. Still, I can’t say the week was a wash and I got a decent amount of accomplished. With any luck, this weekend will see me with more energy and I can add finishing a chapter of Darwin & the Beast Collector to the list.
I’m bouncing around a bit because I don’t really know what I’m going to be like when I wake up on Saturday. As I said, I finally got a CPAP machine, so I’m using it for the first time. It’s not what I expected. It requires distilled water and I had to get the full face mask due to the way I sleep. I’ve been told that it will take 2 weeks to get used to everything, but also that I could end up getting a perfect night of sleep right away. There are a lot of morning maintenance things too, which will make workdays rather difficult. I ordered some CPAP wipes to help there, but I still need to pack everything away before leaving for work. We’ll see how this goes since I don’t know how deep a sleep I’m going to be getting.
As much as I want to get 2 chapters of Darwin & the Beast Collector done this weekend, I’ll be happy with one. I’m at the start of the third act, so the next 3 chapters all have 4 sections. The final 2 chapters have 3 a piece. This means, I should finish by the end of November the latest. Doing two sections on a Saturday and 2 on a Sunday should be fine. If my energy and focus improves with the CPAP machine then I’ll start being able to write during a few weeknights or get back up to 3 sections on Saturday and Sunday. Be nice to get my old energy and mojo again. Hard to tell if it will happen because my sinuses are still a problem.
Oh! I almost forgot about what I did with my son last Sunday night. Since Monday was a day off, we went to the Bronx Zoo for a nighttime pumpkin event. They had a trail with pumpkins emblazoned with animals. Don’t really think they were real pumpkins, but I could be wrong. Here’s a few of my favorite pictures:
There weren’t any real animals like we thought, but it was still a lot of fun. Totally worth staying up until close to midnight. It was the highlight of last weekend since Saturday was raining (homework time) and Monday was sleeping in then appointments. We still got in enough Pokemon Go to get our exercise and accomplish tasks. Maybe my son not being around is why I tend to not have much energy or focus on the weekends he’s not here. I’ll have to think about that one.
Life event is still going on, which is another reason for stress. Going to be a long month with that continuing. I’m trying to distract myself with reading manga and watching some anime. Technically, I do this anyway, but I’m rationalizing my actions that don’t involve writing now. Whatever gets me through the worst of it.
This coming week is going to be more of the same. The next two weeks have a bunch of appointments and meetings too. It’s crazy that the life event is moving so rapidly while all this other stuff is going on. Feels like I don’t have enough time to focus or breathe with everything going on. If it isn’t an appointment for me, it’s one for my son. It’s a struggle just to carve out a small about of quality time with him and resting time for myself. Makes my head spin at times. That’s why I’m not trying to push book writing as much as I would like. I’d run myself ragged and either have to take a longer break from my books or put out terrible quality sections. Best to accomplish what I can and hope there’s a point in the future where I have the time, energy, and health to get back into author form.
This one comes straight out of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. I was surprised about how big and popular this monster was after I starting looking around. So, what is a Hodag?
First, let’s talk about the Hodag’s origin. It is considered a monster of American folklore from the 1800’s. It was supposedly spotted by a lumberjack, which associated it with the forest and even early Paul Bunyan stories. The Hodag remained low key until the late 1800’s when Eugene Shephard sent out a picture of one that him and some people hunted down. They shot it with poison water and then used dynamite. Three years later, he traveled around with a ‘captured Hodag’, which people could ‘see’ and hear in a darkened tent. He would admit to it being a fake when scientists were on their way to take a look, but the legend still existed prior to Shephard and had locked itself in place.
Keep in mind that Shephard’s Hodag looked very similar to the mishipeshu or underwater panther. This is an important mythical water being from the tribes of the Great Lakes and the Northeastern Woodlands. Both creatures resembled a cat covered in scales and having spikes running along its back and tail. The odd thing is that the description I gave and the one of the picture doesn’t even seem to match how Shephard described it or even his photograph:
Now, the Hodag is supposed to be large . . . Doesn’t look that way. Shephard claimed it had the head of a frog, the face of a giant elephant, thick short legs with claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long spiked tail. The first picture looks closer to what he described, but not exact. In fact, the Hodag looks more like a demonic ox, which makes sense. It was aid to be born from the ashes of cremated oxen and be the living embodiment of the abuse they endured as beasts of burden.
It was also said that they went extinct after their favorite food became scarce. What did these carnivores eat? All white bulldogs. This is why you really get a sense that this is all a hoax. I mean, it seemed clear from the hunted one and live one, but we’re looking at it with modern eyes. You would think that it being declared a hoax would make it lose its power.
Nope! The Hodag is the official symbol of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Their high school’s mascot is the Hodag. They have an annual music festival named after the creature. The same goes for various businesses. There are Hodag statues at the Chamber of Commerce and the ice arena. They definitely leaned into the creature’s fame and made it their own, which is very impressive. At this point, it doesn’t matter if the Hodag is a hoax. Then again, maybe it isn’t and this whole thing is being done to protect a heavily endangered species that lives in secret.
(This one was written when I had really bad anxiety. It was to the point that I had body spasms at times. Not fun. Glad I haven’t returned to that level.)
Legends of Windemere 